Maintenance
by thelyokocode
Summary: Lapis was starting to get the hang of her new life on Earth, and then Peridot fell. Fluffy Lapidot comfort!
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks for giving this a read, enjoy!**

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The sun was beginning to set, a soft breeze causing the old wooden walls of the barn just on the outskirts of Beach City creak a bit. Birds were chirping in the distance, the sound of leaves rustling gave a calming serenity to the blue gem sitting in the barn, comfortably reading through a book.

The only thing that was somewhat out of place was the gentle rhythmic hammering above her, the sounds of her roommate fixing the robot-sized hole in the barn's side. It wasn't an unwelcome noise though, in fact it was almost therapeutic. She closed her book, laying down on the wooden planks below her, enjoying the cool, calm moment.

Everything that had happened to her, to Lapis, here on Earth made it seem like a moment like this could never happen. She had so many bad experiences on this planet: from being trapped here for thousands of years, to being in a horrifying fusion for months. It was a bit surprising to her that after all of those bad memories that she still wanted to be here.

"I guess Steven was right, everything is changing on Earth, even homeworld gems," Lapis thought to herself, the other gem on the roof on her mind.

"Peridot sure has," the blue gem thought, only to hear the green gem on the roof yelp out a bit in pain, followed by the sound of a hammer being dropped onto the rooftop and Peridot proceeding to call the tool a "clod."

"Well, mostly anyways," Lapis said out loud with a soft chuckle, returning to the peaceful state she was in, the soft sound of distant thunder nearly lulling her to sleep. She let out a pleased hum, on the verge of falling into a serene slumber-

 _THUNK THUMP THOCK THUD_

Lapis suddenly sat up, the sudden loud thumping on the roof startling her. Confused, she started to call out to her roommate, not even getting a word out as the sudden familiar sound of Peridot yelping in mid-freefall interrupted the blue gem.

She let out a soft giggle from hearing the soft _WHUMP_ of Peridot's body landing on the grassy ground outside the barn. Lapis quickly hopped down to the ground floor of their abode, walking outside and around to the side of the barn.

"You're going to break last week's record at this rate," the blue gem teased, kneeling down beside Peridot, who was still face-first into the ground. The technician flailed her limbs a bit, finding grip on the ground and pushing herself up, looking up at her roommate.

Lapis gasped, a jolt of fear and worry going through her body, her eyes wide as dinner plates. She couldn't have anything else bad happen here, not right now, she was just starting to feel normal.

"P-Peridot," Lapis started, taking sharp breaths, trying to stay calm, "A-Are you f-feeling alright?"

Peridot raised her eyebrow, confused by the blue gem's worry and her question. She sat up on her knees, looking herself over before returning her gaze to the startled gem in front of her.

"I feel fine, why? What's wr-", the green gem suddenly stopped. She looked even more confused, totally forgetting the word she was trying to say. She took a breath in, ready to finish her sentence, only to close her mouth again in an even bigger state of confusion.

"P-Peridot...", Lapis couldn't finish her sentence either, just pointing at the technician's forehead, her other hand squeezing her dress tightly. Peridot tried looking up at her forehead, fruitlessly. She took her visor off, reaching her curious hand up to her forehead.

She felt the smooth surface of her gem against her fingertips, her eyebrow raising slightly again, only for her eyes to widen suddenly. She yanked her hand away from herself, from shock and slight pain of her finger brushing against a sharp surface: her gem was cracked.

She inhaled again, wanting to tell Lapis that everything was going to be fine and that she doesn't have to worry, but find that she couldn't recall any of the words to say those phrases. She tried again and again, breathing in for a sentence only to exhale in defeat. The green gem slumped a bit, unable how to console her friend.

Lapis was on the verge of tears, her mind already thinking of all the horrible outcomes of this scenario: from Peridot's gem staying this way, to it cracking further, to being completely shattered. She gripped her dress tighter, looking down at her shaking fists, the feeling of being completely alone starting to creep back up in her mind. She jumped as she felt a sudden warmth against her shoulder, looking up at it to see a green arm outstretched to give it a squeeze.

Lapis followed the arm back to see Peridot's face smiling at her, nodding as if trying to tell her things were going to be okay. Her eyes couldn't stop glancing at the cracked peridot on Peridot's forehead, shivering each time she saw it.

Peridot stood up, taking a bit to find her balance. She speculated that her equilibrium being off must be caused by her cracked gem, along with her lack of speech. The water gem looked up at her barn mate, instinct taking over as she quickly followed suit, holding her arms out to catch the technician in case she fell. She let out a mental sigh as Peridot regained her balance, but her concern hadn't waned.

"Wh-What do we do?", Lapis asked, her fists clenched at her sides, trying to stay calm for Peridot's sake. The green gem thought for a second, only coming to one conclusion. She began to explain her solution, only to have her ability to speak be absent once again.

Peridot pointed at her mouth, repeating a gesture she had remembered from an episode of _Camp Pining Hearts_ , zipping her lips shut. Lapis took a second to recall the familiar movement, nodding as she understood, easily recognizing it from their favorite Canadian entertainment.

"L-Lead the way, then," The blue gem said, watching her roommate now walk back to the barn's entrance, following her closely. As they both entered the barn, Peridot quickly ran to one of their pieces of art, pointing a green finger right at it. Lapis quickly put it together as soon as she saw her barn mate pointing right at her leaf meep-morp, a subtle smile on her lips as hope began to sprout in her mind.

"Oh! Of course! We should go right now," the water gem said, already spouting her aquatic wings and walking right back out of the barn. Peridot quickly followed, jumping a bit clumsily onto Lapis' back, gripping her shoulders tight as the blue gem took flight.

"I just hope Steven's home..."


	2. Chapter 2

Lapis couldn't take take her mind off of the looming sense of loneliness, holding onto Peridot's legs tighter as they flew over the countryside, Beach City on the horizon. What would happen if Peridot got worse? What if she ended up un-repairable somehow? The blue gem shook her head.

"No," Lapis thought to herself, "I can't start thinking like that." She glanced back at the technician on her back, sighing as those same negative feelings came right back after seeing Peridot's still-cracked gem. The green gem took notice of this, turning her head to see Lapis returning her gaze to their voyage to the temple.

Peridot frowned a bit, having to see her friend like this was never an enjoyable experience: whether it was memories of Jasper and Malachite, or their journey from Homeworld back to Earth. She wanted to give Lapis a reassuring sentence or two, quickly recalling her inability to speak in her current state.

She let out her own sigh, although a more reassuring one, giving one of Lapis' shoulders an affirming squeeze.

Lapis turned her head back around, thinking Peridot was wanting to convey something to her, and she was right. She was met with a comforting grin from the technician, despite her predicament.

It honestly boggled the water gem, how Peridot could stay so chipper in this situation, especially when it was her who was in dire straits. She returned Peridot's smile with one of her own, thinking it was best to roll with it for the moment, and the comforting part of her barn mate's smile sure was effective.

Within a couple more minutes, the two gems reaches the temple; landing gingerly on the deck of Steven's beach house. Lapis kneeled down, letting Peridot hop off of her back and onto her feet, standing back up afterwords and peeking into the screen of the front door.

There was no sign of anyone in the house, at least in the visible kitchen. She gave a knock to the door, hoping Steven was elsewhere in the house. After a few seconds of no sounds or movement, Lapis brought her hand back up to rap at the door one more time, only to hear scuffling coming from the left side of the house, followed by footsteps walking down a staircase, finally coming face-to-face with a short purple gem, who looked surprised to see her.

The white-haired gem opened the door, giving Lapis a welcoming, albeit confused, smile.

"Hey Lapis! Uh, what brings ya around here?", Amethyst greeted and asked, reaching into a bag of Chaps held in one of her hands, taking a bite of one.

"Um, sorry to come here like this, but Peridot...", the blue gem started, moving to the side to let Peridot move into view next to her, "She cracked her gem..."

Amethyst's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, quickly gulping down the Chaps in her mouth, "Holy smokes. Well, I'm the only one here right now; Garnet, Pearl, and Steven all went to some mission, something about monsters up near Beaver State. Why don't I just warp you guys to Rose's fountain? That'll fix ya right up!", Amethyst explained with a proud grin.

"Fountain? I don't know... Can we just wait until Steven gets back?", Lapis replied, unsure.

"If ya want, dunno how long they'll be gone though. I don't mind warping ya, but it's up to you guys," Amethyst said again, returning to her usual relaxed state, grabbing, and proceeding to munch, a handful of Chaps.

"What do you think we should do, it's your gem, Peri," Lapis said, looking down at her cracked friend. Peridot returned the look, breaking eye contact afterwords as she thought over the possibilities.

After a few seconds of mulling over her options, she looked down at the wooden deck she and Lapis stood on, grabbing a nearby autumn-shaded leaf, holding it up for her answer. Lapis smiled, nodding in understanding.

"We'll wait for Steven. We'll be at the barn, ok?", Lapis stated, already kneeling down to let Peridot back onto her back, her wings sprouting from her gem.

"Sure thing, as soon as they get back!", Amethyst said, giving a comical salute with with her Chaps holding hand, causing some to fly off onto the beach house's floor.

"Thanks Amethyst," Lapis replied, holding onto Peridot's legs tight as she lifted off into the sky, flying back towards the barn.

"And don't let her gem crack more!" Amethyst shouted up at them before closing the door to the beach house.

"Don't worry," Lapis thought to herself, tightening her grip on her barn mate's legs, "I won't let that happen."


	3. Chapter 3

By the time the two gems returned to the barn, the sun was starting to set. Lapis landed right outside of the barn, holding onto Peridot's hand as she bent at her knees to let the green gem off of her back. She retracted her wings, looking down at her barn mate, still concerned for the gem's well-being.

What she said after leaving Steven's house wasn't a lie, determined to not let anything happen to Peridot that would cause her gem to become any more damaged.

"Well, I guess we just have to wait," Lapis said, looking at the barn, then back down to her roommate.

"Anything you want to do to pass the time, Peri?"

Peridot held a hand on her chin, visibly thinking over the various things the two gems could do until Steven returned. Lapis mentally chuckled, grinning just a bit, wondering how many options the gem could have in her triangular head. Peridot stood there for a bit, putting her free hand on her hip, blinking occasionally.

"How about we just start with some _Camp Pining Hearts_ for now?", the blue gem asked, knowing that would most likely cut a decent amount of hours out of their waiting, and she wanted to watch a season or two herself. The short gem looked up at Lapis with a happy smile, nodding.

"Alright, you can pick the season, as long as it's not season five," Lapis said, quickly re-sprouting her wings, reaching down and grabbing Peridot by her waist.

"You good?" She asked, the green gem nodding. Lapis held onto Peridot tightly, quickly lifting into the air, quickly making her way to the truck bed that extended from the front of the barn. She carefully put the green gem down before landing on the truck herself.

The water gem sat down, resting her back on the metal sheets covering the hole in the barn behind her, shivering a bit from the cool feeling of the metal on her own gem. She watched Peridot quickly pick out a DVD, opening the case and putting it in the player Steven had given Peridot after she quickly took a liking to the Canadian TV show.

The short gem grabbed the remote, sitting right next to Lapis, giving her a "you're-gonna-like-this" grin, the DVD's home menu coming up to reveal it was Lapis's favorite season, season four.

The blue gem smiled back at Peridot, "You didn't have to pick that for me, you know." Peridot replied by shrugging, her grin becoming even more smug. Lapis giggled, giving the green gem a light friendly punch on the shoulder, turning her head back to the campers having a three-legged race.

They both watched intently, not saying much as the took in episode after episode. If there was one thing they could bond on, it definitely was _Camp Pining Hearts_.

Within only a few episodes the sun was below the horizon, making the sky colorful shades of red, purple, and blue. As the stars started to come out, the temperature was dropping, which didn't bother Lapis much at all. Peridot, on the other hand, was starting to get chilled, shivering every few minutes.

Lapis quickly took note of this, looking over to see Peridot had pulled her knees up to her chest in a very "Lazuli" fashion. Lapis' eyes caught a glance of the broken gem on her roommate's brow, those thoughts of worry quickly forming in her head, having forgotten about their situation after a relaxing evening of Canadian televised entertainment.

"You ok, Peri?", the water gem asked, needing to do something instead of wallowing in her own pessimistic thoughts. Peridot looked up at her roommate, her shivering becoming more frequent, not wanting to be anymore of a burden today than she had been, giving the blue gem a nod.

"You can always scoot a little closer, you know. Steven's said humans sometimes do that; that it helps keep warm. Maybe it'll work for us?" Lapis offered, affirming it with a smile. The green gem looked away from her barn mate and the TV, hugging her knees for a couple more seconds before taking up the offer, quickly doing what Lapis suggested, their physical forms centemetres from each other.

After not feeling any change in her temperature, Peridot started to think that this wasn't much help, only making a comfortable situation potentially more awkward. Lapis decided to take the initiative, moving an arm around the shivering gem and pulling her closer until their sides touched. Peridot jumped a bit from the sudden closeness, looking up at the water gem with a soft grassy green blush on her cheeks, although she did notice that it was noticeably warmer now.

"There, is that better?" Lapis asked, squeezing her hand against Peridot's opposite arm. The green gem nodded once more, still hugging her knees.

"Good," Lapis replied. She honestly thought this was going to be more awkward than it was. It definitely wasn't like her to be so forward, but she said she'd take care of Peridot until her gem was repaired, and she planned on sticking to that.

A few more episodes later, the two were still in front of the TV, the galaxy twinkling above them in it's ever-amazing fashion. After a few more awkward minutes, the two eventually found their huddling comfortable, their bodies feeding off of each other's warmth.

It didn't take long for Peridot to fall asleep, Lapis noticing halfway through the holiday special. she looked down at the short gem, smiling contently as Peridot slept soundly, resting her head against the water gem's shoulder.

"Must be taking a lot out of her," Lapis thought to herself, "She doesn't usually sleep, especially in the middle of _CPH_. Should probably get her inside though." Lapis quietly reached her other arm under Peridot's legs, picking her up gently, holding onto the green gem securely as she quickly floated down to Earth.

She walked through the barn, smoothly hovering up to the semi-second-floor of the barn, where an air mattress had been set up. She walked over to it, easily laying Peridot down on the vinyl bed, grabbing the alien print blanket that partially covered it, pulling it over the gem.

Lapis let out a content sigh, looking once more at Peridot's cracked gem.

"I'll stay up, just in case," Lapis thought to herself. She tugged at the hem of her skirt a bit, her cheeks turning a shade of dark navy as another thought worked into her mind, finding herself starting at Peridot's face. After having been so cold to her in the past, Peridot still tried to make Lapis feel comfortable and wanted to be closer to her.

Even with her own life in danger, she still picked Lapis' favorite season of _CPH_ and made the effort to respect Lapis' boundaries even after she was the one to offer being close for warmth. Lapis felt her cheeks getting warmer with each passing second, her gaze still firmly on Peridot's softly sleeping face.

She began to stand up, but hesitating, leaning down to Peridot and giving her cheek a warm kiss, pulling back softly as to not rouse the gem from her sleep.

"I'll be here when you wake up," Lapis whispered almost inaudibly, giving one more look to Peridot, who now had a slight smile on her snoozing face. She quietly hovered out of the barn, flying back up to the truck, rewinding the holiday special to the beginning, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to follow along.

"Everything _is_ changing on Earth."


	4. Chapter 4

Lapis didn't sleep at all through the whole night, and while she was worried for Peridot, she stayed up mostly as a precautionary measure. As the night went on, stars twinkling in the sky above, the blue gem sat in the truck bed sticking out of the front of the barn.

"Just have to make it until morning, Steven will show up and everything will be fine," she thought to herself as she watched through the rest of _Camp Pining Hearts_ ' fourth season DVD. Lapis kept trying to take her mind off of the situation, which _CPH_ did help her to do, at least until the DVD finished.

The credits of the season finale scrolled, finally finishing and the DVD going back to the main menu. The water gem sighed a little to herself, hitting the eject button on the remote sitting next to her, scooting over to the DVD player and taking the disc out, putting it back into it's plastic case before setting the case back in it's chronological order with the rest of the _Camp Pining Hearts_ box set.

She worked her way back so she was leaning back against the barn behind her, her head leaning up and gazing up at the blue-and-purple hued sky, trying her hardest not to focus on Peridot or her gem or the fact that there was still a few hours until daylight.

Of course, her mind couldn't stop thinking about the green gem soundly sleeping inside of the barn, which made the water gem thunk her head against the barn behind her in frustration. She couldn't hide from her own brain, having been thinking about Peridot, and pretty much only Peridot, since she tucked the cracked gem into bed.

Lapis _couldn't_ stop thinking about her barn mate, not only because she was worried for the green gem, but because... Well, she wasn't quite sure.

The blue gem could feel her cheeks warming up as she thought back to that moment right after Peridot has drifted off into sleep. She still wasn't 100% sure why she kissed Peridot, let alone why it had her reacting the way she was.

She had seen humans lock lips a couple times before, mostly in Canadian television, and she knew the meaning of why humans did it, but the fact Lapis herself had kissed someone that she once despised confused her. The whole ordeal was causing her eyes to get heavy, being up for a few days even took it's toll on a gem.

Despite her best efforts, Lapis couldn't keep her eyes open for much longer, eventually giving in to sleep, hugging her knees against her chest and using them as a makeshift pillow.

A soft breeze blew in the air, causing nearby trees to rustle and the old wood of the barn to creak slightly. Birds chirped as the sun had now been up for a bit, casting a shadow of a TV onto the sleeping blue gem.

The warmth of the sun eventually caused her to stir, opening her eyes and enjoying that pleasant sense after just waking up from a restful sleep. Lapis' soon jolted up, realizing she slept for those couple of hours between early morning and daylight, immediately jumping off of the truck bed and making her way into the barn, worry making it's way back into her thoughts.

Lapis quickly took the ladder up to the pseudo-second-floor of the barn, too frantic to use her wings, making her way to the blanket covered air mattress she had laid Peridot on. She grabbed the top of the blanket, sliding it down just a little, Peridot's triangular hair peeking out.

The water gem let out an audible sigh, glad that nothing had happened to her barn mate. She kept sliding the blanket down until the green gem's face was visible, still sleeping soundly with a slight smile, breathing slowly and steadily.

Lapis couldn't help but smile herself, seeing her roommate look so calm. As soon as the feeling and thoughts of worry left her mind, the same feeling Lapis felt last night came rushing back. She stared down at a snoozing Peridot, catching every detail in her face, from soft round cheeks, to a slight discoloring in the shape of her visor, to the way her hair was slightly disheveled.

That same urge was building up again, Lapis shaking her head a bit, not wanting to make things more complicated, for her or Peridot, but the blue gem unknowingly had leaned in close to Peridot, their faces now only centimeters away from each other.

Lapis' cheeks warmed a dark shade of blue, slowly starting to lean closer, millimeter by millimeter, their lips growing ever closer. Lapis could feel Peridot's soft breathing against her, making a shiver go up her non-existent spine. Lapis decided that if there was going to be any better chance to try and figure out why she wanted to do this, it was now. She leaned in, just beginning to part her lips-

 _KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

The interjecting sound of knuckles against a hard surface rang out throughout the barn, Lapis quickly opening her eyes that had at some point shut in her intimate moment, pulling back just a few inches.

"Lapis? Peridot? You in there?", a familiar voice called out. The water gem watched Peridot start to stir, opening her eyes slowly, looking a bit shocked to see Lapis leaning over her.

The blush on Lapis' cheeks only grew in intensity as she realized how close she still was to the green gem, seeing the olive green blush brightening her barn mates cheeks didn't help. Lapis sat up quickly, calling out to their visitor.

"Y-Yeah, we're here, Steven!", the blue gem said, not taking her eyes off of Peridot, watching her sit up and yawn slightly, both of their cheeks still warm.

"Uh, where are you two?" Steven asked from the ground floor of the barn, to which Lapis replied by waving a hand up on the second floor down to him.

"Up here!", the water gem said, smiling happily as Steven joined both of them.

"How's her gem doing?" Steven asked, looking at the cracked stone on Peridot's forehead.

"Well, it hasn't become any worse since yesterday, so good?", Lapis replied, to which Steven nodded to in agreement with an audible affirming hum.

"You can heal her right? Like you did with me?", the blue gem asked, gripping at the hem of her skirt with the bit of worry that was still lingering.

"Yeah! I mean, I should. It doesn't always work, but you seem like you're taking a crack really well, Peridot! Amethyst told me all that's happening with you is you can't talk, last time I saw a cracked gem, her body got all split up and she talked backwards!" Steven assured them both in his own Steven-y way.

The two barn mates looked at each other and then back to a smiling Steven, not quite sure the story he was referring to, but gave him a supportive smile anyway.

"Anyway, I should get you fixed up so nothing like that happens!", Steven said as he walked over to Peridot, sitting down in front of the green gem.

"Now hold still, apparently this can feel a little weird sometimes," Steven said, bringing his palm up to his face and giving it a wet slurp, plapping it right on top of Peridot's cracked gem.

"Did it work?" Lapis asked as Steven pulled his hand back, not taking her eyes off of her barn mate.

Before Steven even had a chance to respond, the crack in Peridot's gem visibly started to shorten, the cracked surface of the gem becoming smoother until there was no visible damage left in it.

"Looks like it!" Steven finally said with a happy chuckle, "How you feeling, P?" Peridot looked from Lapis to Steven and back, reaching a hand up to her gem, running her fingers across the smooth surface, smiling wide at both of her closest friends.

"Wow, thanks," the green gem said a bit sleepily, eeping a bit as both Lapis and Steven gave her a simultaneous hug, which she happily returned.

"No prob!" Steven said as they pulled back from the three-way hug, "Steven 'Master Healer' Universe at your service!"

The two gems giggled as their best friend took a proud pose, only for him to join in the laughter.

"I've gotta get back to the temple soon, it's sword practice day! You two going to be ok?" Steven asked as he stood onto his feet, both the gems nodding in reply.

"I could give you a ride home," Lapis offered, watching Steven mount the ladder.

"No, that's ok! I rode Lion over and besides, you two probably have some catching up to do, seeing as Peri couldn't talk!" Steven acknowledged, giggling as he climbed down the ladder. Both of the gems looked at each other, the blushes that had dissipated with Steven's company quickly returned.

"Promise you'll stay longer next visit?", the blue gem asked down to Steven as he was just about to walk out the barn door.

"Of course! See ya then~!" He assured, walking out of the barn and closing the barn door just enough that a sliver of sunlight shined through.

Lapis and Peridot sat in silence as their one consistent ice breaker had left, the memory of Lapis leaning closely over Peridot quickly returning to their thoughts. Peridot squirmed a bit as she still sat on the air matress, glancing up at Lapis a couple times.

"S-Should we talk abou-", Peridot began, only to have her words muffled by the sudden feeling of lips against her own, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates from the sudden kiss.

Lapis just couldn't hold that urge back anymore. She didn't know why she felt it or if it was a good idea or not, but she didn't honestly care. She couldn't keep herself from giving her barn mate another kiss, holding it for what seemed like hours.

Peridot sat there in shock, yet didn't pull back one single bit. Thousands of thoughts were going through her head as Lapis locked lips with her, but one thought stuck out. This felt right, for some reason.

This was something that seemed inevitable and now it happened, and it felt like it could last forever, and it felt _right_. After what seemed like an eternity, Lapis finally broke their kiss, sighing a bit.

"I'm sorry," the blue gem said, a bit sad. It took Peridot a couple seconds to come back down to Earth after such an intense moment, blinking her eyes in confusion.

"For what?", Peridot asked.

"For that."

"Don't be."

"Why not?"

"It was nice..." Peridot said dreamily, unable to keep eye contact with Lapis, who was dumbfounded at her barn mate's response. The two sat in silence once more, although it was a bit more comfortable this time, the two of them with smiles and blushes on their faces.

"You, uh, you should rest, don't want to stress yourself too much. I'll do some work on the roof today. _CPH_ later?" Lapis said, sprouting her wings and getting up on her feet.

"O-Of course," Peridot responded, still a bit dazed from the last 20 minutes. Lapis gave her a smile and took off, flying out of the barn and up onto the roof, landing right next to Peridot's toolbox and beginning to work.

" _What a crazy place this planet is_ "

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 **Thanks for reading!**


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